My Awesome U2 Mug

My family and I spent two weeks touring the UK and Ireland last month. What an amazing trip. One of the items I hoped to find on the trip was a kilt of my mother's family name, but alas, even locally available kilts cost over $500, too much for something I wanted as a memento rather than a clothing item. (I spared Scotland the sight of my shockingly pale legs.) We did drive through Ayrshire in Scotland, where the family originated centuries ago. (I can only go back as far as my 4-great-grandfather, who is buried in Ohio.)  I've one Irish branch of the family but I don't know from where they emigrated in the 1700s. In nearly all the places we visited, we enjoyed finding books, jewelry, and other items---and we made it through customs fine!

In a shop in Dublin, my wife and daughter bought some hoodies and teeshirts but I spotted this U2 mug, not too expensive at 6 euros. (Later in the visit, our tour guide pointed out U2's recording studios where, according to him, the group has recorded every album except "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Achtung Baby".) The mug emigrated from Dublin to St. Louis without damage, thanks to the cardboard box and also family plans about what we'd pack in checked luggage and what we'd carry on. Our cat thoughtfully jumped onto the table and sniffed the mug as I took this photo.  

A year or so ago, there was a Facebook "fad," urging people to share their 10 or 15 favorite albums.  As I recall, I wrote down a variety of favorites, some from high school (Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" and "Thick as a Brick", David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World", The Who's "Tommy", Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Birds of Fire"), some classical (Clemens Kraus' 1953 recording of Wagner's "Der Ring des Niebelungen"---although that's technically 15 LPs already---Sir Adrian Boult's recording from the same year of Vaughan Williams' "Pastoral Symphony").

I don't remember if I included U2's "The Joshua Tree", but I should have. I don't listen to it as much these days. But when my wife and I moved to Flagstaff, Arizona in 1987, the Oliver North hearings had preempted most television, and so as we rested in our lamentable Route 66 motel room (Flagstaff has developed many more nicer accommodations in the years since), the best thing to watch was MTV. The now-well-known video of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was a treat.

The best thing about our four years in Flagstaff was the birth of our amazing daughter. My wife and I moved forward in our careers in "Flag," and I completed my doctoral dissertation. We made numerous friendships which have endured over the last twenty years.  The sound of Edge's bright guitar will always remind me those years in northern Arizona, the snow on the San Francisco Peaks, driving old 66 to work, and the shimmering aspen leaves in autumn.  

(Here's my own favorite U2 song, from an earlier album, sung by the Irish singer Luka Bloom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjVpLI5c8_U)